Berlusconi in possible U-turn over no confidence vote October 2, 2013 In a dramatic turn of events Silvio Berlusconi and his PDL party may back prime minister Letta in today's confidence vote. Letta's speech was well received both in the Senate chamber and in the markets as the Italian stock market reached a two year high at the end of Letta's speech. Commentators are increasingly confident [...]
Russia cuts stake in world’s largest diamond producer Alrosa October 2, 2013 The Russian government will be selling a 14 per cent stake in Alrosa, the world's largest diamond producer. Wargan Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Alrosa will sell an additional two per cent of shares. The deal which has been int pipeline for more than a decade is expected to be worth over £600m. The Russian [...]
Can you guess the top seven items sold at Tesco in the last six months? October 2, 2013 In a week where London mayor Boris Johnson has been tripped by on milk prices, and Prime Minister David Cameron couldn't tell us the price of a loaf of bread – can you guess which items Tesco sold most of in the 26 weeks to 24 August? Answers here. You can read more on Tesco's [...]
Italy’s Letta dreams of United States of Europe October 2, 2013 Italian prime minister Enrico Letta is battling for the survival of his government in the Italian Senate this morning. He has defended the governments economic record and reaffirmed its commitment to ensure that the deficit falls below three per cent of GDP at the end of 2013. With several members of Berlusconi's PdL indicating they [...]
Residential construction activity increases at fastest pace in nearly a decade October 2, 2013 The construction sector is expanding more slowly, but we're still seeing a strengthening of activity. Markit's purchasing manager's index (PMI) came in at 58.9 in September, from 59.1. But economists had forecast a rise to 59.5 this month. That's the five consecutive month of growth, and the latest figure is the second highest since September [...]
Markets look towards private labour market estimates as government shutdown hampers releases October 2, 2013 With the US government still in shutdown (well, more of a slimdown, around 80 per cent of federal employees are still at work), we're probably not going to see nonfarm payroll (NFP) estimates this Friday. Markets are so hungry for jobs data because Federal Reserve decision making over when to begin scaling back asset purchases [...]
Holcim CEO flies austerity style October 2, 2013 Bernard Fontana, chief executive of the worlds largest cement maker Holcim, is leading by example in terms of cost-cutting by flying economy class on short-hall flights. In an interview at Holcim headquarters in Zurich Fontana said: I respect the policy which we set, which is (a flight of) more than five hours is business, less [...]
Domino’s delivers stronger sales growth as mobile purchases increase October 2, 2013 Takeaway pizza company Domino's has seen like-for-like sales jump by four percent in its 669 mature stores in the 13 weeks to 29 September (release). That's an increase on the 3.9 per cent like-for-like sales growth it saw in the same period last year. That's despite what the company called "an extended period of unusually [...]
You can probably be replaced by a robot – and that’s really good news October 1, 2013 A new paper suggests that more jobs could eventually be done by robots that we previously thought. Not just simple tasks either. As many as 47 per cent of positions currently filled by humans could be done by a computerised workforce "over some unspecified number of years, perhaps a decade or two." Most likely to [...]
Candy Crush saga claims London victim as King opts for New York float October 1, 2013 Powerscourt, the ambitious financial public relations group founded by ex-Goldman Sachs spin doctor Rory Godson, has become the first casualty of the decision by King, the UK-based mobile gaming company, to list in New York rather than London. King, best known for its hit game Candy Crush Saga, has hired Brunswick, to handle its upcoming [...]
